New brands of bottled water take advantage of a byproduct from making maple syrup, an iconic product in Vermont. TreTap and Vermont Tapped are both water that is left over from the process of making syrup.

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You probably know that maple sap doesn't become syrup until it's boiled way down, to reduce water. Many sugar producers have invested in reverse osmosis systems in recent years. They allow producers to separate sugary sap, the good stuff syrup makers want, from tree water, which previously didn't have much value and was just dumped or used to clean equipment.

The reverse osmosis machines can cost several hundred thousand dollars, but save producers on energy spent on the boiling process. The separation of sap from water also created the possibility of the bottled water business.

"It's definitely going to be a plus," said Gene Branon of Branon's West View Maples in Fairfield, Vt. "That's going to be another option, I guess, for other sugar makers to help to add a little revenue to the loss of production if they have a down year, or a gain on something in a healthy year."

Branon, one of the top syrup producers in Vermont in terms of volume, is supplying his left over filtered water to Aaron Harris, an experienced investment firm fund manager who's using it to build the drink brands TreTap and Vermont Tapped.

"When people think about Vermont, what do they think about? They think about skiing and maple syrup,” Harris observed. "The beverage industry is so vast, that we want to make sure we're tying our product with where we think there's the best growth."

Vermont Tapped is still, filtered water. TreTap is subtly flavored with cucumber or berry essences. Harris said he wants to position TreTap as a low-calorie competitor to the trendy coconut water, another drink from a plant. "Our target consumer is people that really want to know the source of their water," Harris told New England Cable News.

The expansion of the drinks comes at a good time for Branon. Between heavy snow, a December ice storm that brought down branches and damaged sap lines in northern Vermont, and cold that has prevented the sap from flowing this month, Branon said the waters may help smooth out the rocky start to the season. "It's definitely cost us some money to get things back to where they should be," Branon said of the ice storm damage. "The damage was very much not needed."

Branon told NECN the separation of sap from water through reverse osmosis will not impact the overall size of his maple syrup crop. "No. Not at all," he said. "We're just taking the water that's getting separated from the sap and putting it in a bottle, basically."

The water has historically been wasted, Branon said, so he is toasting the bonus revenue stream to his iconic industry.

Harris said he has a growing list of retailers, and plans to add flavors and carbonated options. Further expansion may require more water from other maple producers, Harris said. "I think of ourselves as a company that's creating a new industry," he added.

According to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the country produced 3.25-million gallons of maple syrup in 2013. That figure was up 70 percent from 2012's output, the USDA said. In 2012, the maple industry was hampered by uncooperatively warm spring temperatures. Vermont was responsible for 1.32-million gallons of 2013’s crop, which was 40 percent of the nation's output. Vermont's maple syrup crop is valued at tens of millions of dollars a year.